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Sequoia Capital

also referred to as: sequoia

21 statements across 1 episodes · 3 bullish · 7 bearish · 1 people on the record · first statement Aug 30, 2026 by Doug Leone · said 26 times in 4 episodes since 2025 · across every show →

Mentions by year

brought up most by Doug Leone (21), David Senra (5)

tap a year for its mentions
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02320252026episodes it came up in
0051.510320252026episodesmentions per episode
2026 25 mentions in 3 episodes 8 per episode
2025 1 mention in 1 episode

every mention, scene by scene, with the transcript →

Everything said about Sequoia Capital, oldest first

Aug 30, 2026 negative
Insight
Leone: Startups are in trouble if founders rely on VCs for product
“If they have to rely on me to help shape the product 10, 20%, we're in big trouble.”
Doug Leone Aug 30, 2026 ▶ 26:16 How to Dominate for Decades | Doug Leone, Sequoia Capital
Aug 30, 2026 bullish
Opinion
Leone: Michael Moritz was best in the world at assessing total upside
“Mike had the ability to dream broadly in ways that I've never seen before. He could answer the question better than anybody I've ever known. What if everything goes right? Not, oh, we're hedges and that, no, what if everything goes right? What can this busines…”
Doug Leone Aug 30, 2026 ▶ 1:21:07 How to Dominate for Decades | Doug Leone, Sequoia Capital
Aug 30, 2026 neutral
Disclosure
Sequoia closed its Instagram investment just days before the Facebook acquisition
“We closed the investment in Instagram on a Thursday, and he sold it on a Sunday. Great IR, but we didn't make any money, really.”
Doug Leone Aug 30, 2026 ▶ 32:19 How to Dominate for Decades | Doug Leone, Sequoia Capital
Aug 30, 2026 negative
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Leone saw a startup with no product try to raise at $10B
“I came back from vacation over the weekend. I saw a memo. I won't tell you the name of a startup company that wants to raise money without anything at ten billion pre.”
Doug Leone Aug 30, 2026 ▶ 20:44 How to Dominate for Decades | Doug Leone, Sequoia Capital
Aug 30, 2026 bullish
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Sequoia's investment in SpaceX has a shot at a $20B gain
“Yeah, it's SpaceX. Now, we haven't cashed out yet or whatever, but, you know, there's a shot of a twenty billion dollar gain or more, and so he ruined it for all of us.”
Doug Leone Aug 30, 2026 ▶ 23:37 How to Dominate for Decades | Doug Leone, Sequoia Capital
Aug 30, 2026 neutral
Disclosure
Leone will leave Sequoia if still feeling irrelevant one year after return
“I told one of my partners just an hour ago that if nine months from now, which is the one year since I return, I feel just as irrelevant. I'm going to take myself out.”
Doug Leone Aug 30, 2026 ▶ 2:28 How to Dominate for Decades | Doug Leone, Sequoia Capital
Aug 30, 2026
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Grady and Lin asked Leone back 30 days after taking over Sequoia
“It turned out the rule of step down, Pat and Alfred took over. They weren't the kings I chose, and 30 days into it, they came to my house, and they said, would you like to come back?”
Doug Leone Aug 30, 2026 ▶ 18:32 How to Dominate for Decades | Doug Leone, Sequoia Capital
Aug 30, 2026 positive
Insight
Leone: Companies must retain founders because losing them destroys company soul
“And what the trick is, is to retain that founder in a company forever if you can, and for as long as possible. Because once you lose that founder, you do lose the soul of the company.”
Doug Leone Aug 30, 2026 ▶ 31:54 How to Dominate for Decades | Doug Leone, Sequoia Capital
Aug 30, 2026 negative
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Leone: Pushing ServiceNow distributions left a 10x return on the table
“How many of distributions I push for at ServiceNow? I left a 10 Xer on a table.”
Doug Leone Aug 30, 2026 ▶ 42:14 How to Dominate for Decades | Doug Leone, Sequoia Capital
Aug 30, 2026
Insight
Leone's three rules for making any venture capital investment
“One of them is, would I put my kids money into it? Second, if I only make 20 investments in my life, Is this one of the 20? Third, can I return the whole fund with this investment? And if I don't pass those three, I'm not gonna make the investment.”
Doug Leone Aug 30, 2026 ▶ 22:15 How to Dominate for Decades | Doug Leone, Sequoia Capital
Aug 30, 2026
Assertion Partly supported
Sequoia historically owned 20% of Nvidia and 10% of Google
“And you know, we own 20% of NVIDIA. Think about that. I mean, you know, we own 10% of Google. And there's many others, you know. Apple. Are you kidding me? We were the first investor of Apple, in Apple. Cisco. We own a quarter of Cisco systems.”
Doug Leone Aug 30, 2026 ▶ 24:50 How to Dominate for Decades | Doug Leone, Sequoia Capital
Aug 30, 2026 neutral
Disclosure
Leone: Work at Sequoia felt like an unconquerable challenge until age 65
“No, it felt like an overwhelming challenge that I didn't know how to conquer, and I felt that until the day I stopped working at 65.”
Doug Leone Aug 30, 2026 ▶ 13:46 How to Dominate for Decades | Doug Leone, Sequoia Capital
Aug 30, 2026 neutral
Insight
Leone: Established talent will not join early-stage startups
“No one that's establishing great is going to join you as a startup. That means you have to have an eye for these up and comer people in sales and marketing, because the made people are going to play it a little safer.”
Doug Leone Aug 30, 2026 ▶ 28:06 How to Dominate for Decades | Doug Leone, Sequoia Capital
Aug 30, 2026
Insight
Leone: Sustained dominance stems from fear of irrelevance, not vision
“Starting with the why, I think it's a deep and secure need to remain relevant and prove to yourself that you're not getting old and you're not going to be out of date. I mean, if I look back on my career each time I remade myself, it wasn't really done out of …”
Doug Leone Aug 30, 2026 ▶ 0:52 How to Dominate for Decades | Doug Leone, Sequoia Capital
Aug 30, 2026 negative
Insight
Leone: Boards must honor signed term sheets over higher late offers
“A term sheet is not worth the paper it's written on, but once you sign it, Both sides, I think you have to honor it. You know, many times we're out, we're, I'm on the board of a company, and we signed a term sheet with an investor, and then three days later, s…”
Doug Leone Aug 30, 2026 ▶ 56:46 How to Dominate for Decades | Doug Leone, Sequoia Capital
Aug 30, 2026
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Leone: 70% of Sequoia Capital comes from nonprofits and charities
“70% of our capital comes from nonprofits, charities, so I never thought of it as a game.”
Doug Leone Aug 30, 2026 ▶ 38:59 How to Dominate for Decades | Doug Leone, Sequoia Capital
Aug 30, 2026
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Leone hasn't lost a deal to a competitor in 30 years except on price
“You know, I really haven't lost an investment in 30 years in Silicon Valley. People have beaten me because of price, but I haven't lost otherwise.”
Doug Leone Aug 30, 2026 ▶ 46:42 How to Dominate for Decades | Doug Leone, Sequoia Capital
Aug 30, 2026 negative
Opinion
Leone estimates that only 20% to 30% of VCs are competent
“Out of 10 venture folks, and I've said this, and I've taken Shifford, maybe 30% are incompetent. They don't know what they're doing. Another 40% I call them no ups, no damage, no anything. They nod, you know, they nod with a group and maybe 30% of fewer, maybe…”
Doug Leone Aug 30, 2026 ▶ 1:08:10 How to Dominate for Decades | Doug Leone, Sequoia Capital
Aug 30, 2026 negative
Assertion Supported
Sequoia sold its 25% stake in Cisco for only a $90M gain
“We sold our Cisco shares for cash for the total gain of ninety million. We owned a quarter of Cisco systems.”
Doug Leone Aug 30, 2026 ▶ 41:49 How to Dominate for Decades | Doug Leone, Sequoia Capital
Aug 30, 2026 neutral
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Leone slept in his car for a week after making Sequoia partner
“I remember when I was made a partner at Sequoia, I was down to zero money. I actually, I have never said that to anybody, but there was a time in my first month where I became a partner that I was homeless. I slept in my car for a week. I showered at 3000 Sand…”
Doug Leone Aug 30, 2026 ▶ 14:47 How to Dominate for Decades | Doug Leone, Sequoia Capital
Aug 30, 2026 negative
Disclosure
Leone admits to feeling miserable three months into his return to Sequoia
“I'm quite miserable at Sequoia right now, not because of what anybody else does, because I feel that three months into it, I'm really good for nothing.”
Doug Leone Aug 30, 2026 ▶ 13:29 How to Dominate for Decades | Doug Leone, Sequoia Capital
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